The past year has seen most of us sheltered at home, and with travel restrictions still taking place— the future of vacations still isn’t clear. And yet, there’s a chosen few among us who shape their reality with greater freedom, carving some time off and treating life as a playground of possibilities rather than a set of restrictions. Such is Michelle Halpern’s philosophy. An LA-based travel guru, her motto is: “Live Like it’s the Weekend”. And boy does she put her money where her mouth is.
After leaving a corporate job in fashion at the end of 2015, Halpern discovered an alternative to a 9-to-5 job: travel blogging. She has since visited over 40 countries, inspiring others to take a leap of faith and live by their own rules. “For me, living like it’s the weekend means saying yes to opportunities and invitations because I have the freedom to do so,” says Halpern. “It means taking spur-of-the-moment adventures to discover something new and beautiful because I don’t have to ask anyone else’s permission.”
Her adventures include anything from vacations on exotic shores, where the dress code is bikinis and flowy dresses, to mountain hikes, where she’s seen sporting a beanie and a pair of hiking boots. “Sometimes I feel bipolar in the things I love about travel,” she admitted in a recent Instagram post. “By now you know I love a bougie design-centric hotel or cafe, but I also love waking up at sunrise to catch the light coming up over the mountains with not a soul in sight just as much.”
Her multi faceted approach to travel also meant she had an open mind when it came to traveling in times of the pandemic. According to Halpern, 2020 has taught her to appreciate local travel (in her case, meaning California). “This year made me appreciate how much there is to explore in my own backyard and it showed me that even when travel fully opens back up again, I don’t need to take a 13-hour flight to arrive somewhere incredible,” she wrote in another blog post. “There are still so many destinations on my own California bucket list, not to mention just a short drive away in other states.”
Her optimistic approach and YOLO attitude is just the kind of energy we need in 2021.
